H2O: Being A Merman Isn't Easy
by Paige1915
Summary: What if Zane, Ash, and Lewis became mermen instead of Cleo, Emma, and Rikki becoming mermaids? How would this change the TV show? AU
1. Strange Metamorphosis

_My first H20 story (at least the first one I've published)._

 _Note: I'm American. I know the show takes place in Australia, but I use American measurements, centimeters, inches, feet, etc. most of the time. There will be some expectations, but most of the time, it will be American units._

 ** _Disclaimer: I do not own H20: Just Add Water_**

* * *

The horse's hooves pounded against the earth, kicking up a dust cloud that stung Ash's eyes and made him cough and sputter. Ash tugged on the reins, and the horse stuttered to a halt beside Ash's younger sister; a soft beep sounded as she hit the stop button on the stop watch in her hand and jotted down the time.

"That's your best time yet," Lillian said, referring to the speed at which Ash did the obstacle course.

Ash grinned as he took off his riding helmet and wiped the sweat from his face with a towel Lillian handed to him.

"Great. I'll definitely be ready for that competition. I'm heading to the Juice Bar. You want to come?"

Lillian shook her head. "No, thanks. I've got heaps of work to do."

"For what?" Ask asked, wondering what his sister could possibly be working on since school was out for the summer.

"Organizing Zoe's birthday party. She's turning thirteen, and I do want to lose the one friend I've made by seeming like I don't care," Lillian explained.

Ash rolled his eyes. "Guys just slap each other on the back, have a bit of friendly competition, and bam! They're best friends. Why do girls make it so complicated?" he asked as he got off of his horse, Rebel, and allowed the stable helper to take the horse back to his stall.

Lillian raised an eyebrow, and Ash raised his arms in surrender.

"Just saying," he said before ducking into an empty horse stall and changing into his regular clothes before anyone could see him and tell him changing in the horse stalls wasn't allowed.

"See you later, sis," he called over his shoulder as he exited the horseback riding place.

Ash wandered around the town his parents had recently moved their little family to, and he located the Juice Bar (it was pretty much the only thing he could remember the location of in this town), and after having a quick juice, he decided to take a look around. You know, get a feel for the new town.

Ash strolled leisurely down the docks, and he was lost in his own world and therefore, didn't see the blonde boy heading towards him, nose buried deep in a text book, until the boy ran into him.

"Sorry," Ash rushed to say as the boy looked up.

"Oh, no, it was totally my fault. Ash, right? The horseback rider?" the boy asked, holding out a hand for Ash to shake.

Ash gripped the hand and shook it, loosely (he was polite but wasn't one for formalities, like hand shaking. A simple hello would suffice for him). "Yeah, Ash Dove. And you are?"

"Lewis McCartney," the boy answered, and they started walking beside each other while Lewis tried to get his textbook and various papers under control.

"Is that a science project?" Ash questioned.

Lewis shook his head. "This is my own scientific research. Science is my thing," Lewis explained.

"He's trying to say he's a geek," Nate chuckled as they walked beside his boat.

"Seriously, Nate, I thought you would've outgrown that by now," Lewis muttered.

"Sorry," Nate said, insincerely. "Look, Lewis. I need you to help me with my boat. Someone stole my spark plug."

"Why would I help you?" Lewis demanded.

"I'd pay you?" Nate suggested.

"Where are your tools?" Lewis asked as he stepped into the boat. "Okay, I need a nine centimeter screwdriver." (probably not a real thing, but just go with it)

"Huh?" Nate asked, staring at his toolbox and wondering which screwdriver was the one Lewis needed.

Ash stepped on board and handed the correct screwdriver to Lewis. His dad had him help around the house with repairs and such, so he was pretty familiar with tools.

When neither were looking, Nate slipped the rope tying the boat to the dock off of the post and laughed as the boat began to drift away.

"Nate!" Lewis shouted. "What are you doing? I didn't steal your spark plug!"

"Why are you doing this, man?" Ash agreed.

"Because I'm bored, and you two are here," Nate replied.

Lewis and Ash jumped (Lewis refuses to admit he yelped) when a heavy weight joined them on the boat, and they turned to see Zane Bennet smirking at them.

"Zane, what the heck?" Lewis asked.

Zane smiled and held up a spark plug.

"You stole that?" Ash asked.

Zane nodded. "Nate put laxatives in my juice the other day; this was just a little bit of my revenge."

"And you're helping us because…" Lewis trailed off, curiously.

"I already stole your clothes while you were in the shower after swimming; pantsed you on the beach; and told everyone you couldn't get a girlfriend to save your life. I've been enough of a jerk this week, so I thought I should be generous," Zane answered before putting the spark plug in, and Ash cried out as the boat jolted forward. Lewis sat down, and Ash nearly fell off of the boat altogether as he fell backwards, and Zane chuckled as he began speeding around the water.

"Off we go, fellas!" Zane cheered before splashing Nate as they passed him.

"Is this safe?" Lewis demanded.

"Are you sure you can drive this thing?" Ash questioned. Nate's boat looked a lot like Zane's zodiac, but the controls couldn't have been more different.

"Are you my mother?" Zane asked. "Come on you two. Live a little!"

Lewis sighed. "All right. Just don't get us lost or stranded on some deserted island like in the movies!"

"I won't!" Zane assured them. "Let's go out to sea," he added before speeding the boat further away from the docks.

Twenty minutes later, the boat sputtered before the speed died, and the boat sat in the middle of water with the main land barely within their sights.

"What happened?" Ash wondered.

Zane sighed. "We're out of gas."

"What?' Lewis demanded. "So we're just drifting out to sea?"

"Not exactly. We can drag the boat onto Mako Island," Zane pointed out.

"I thought I told you _not_ to get us stranded on a deserted island?" Lewis reminded him.

"Do you have a better plan?" Zane asked.

Lewis sighed because truthfully… he didn't.

The three boys dragged the boat onto the shore and stared around at their surroundings.

Mako Island was the kind of place no one visited, and the teenagers could see why. It was definitely beautiful with trees reaching towards the sky and flowers and plant life wherever you looked, not to mention how peaceful it was. The beach looked like it'd been taken straight out of a painting, and it was so much calmer without dozens of people around. Still, despite the beauty of the scenery, it gave all three of them an uneasy feeling, as though the island itself was telling them to turn around, to go back, and if they went any further, they would regret it.

They didn't have any other options, though.

Zane tapped his foot to release some of the uneasiness growing within him before walking further into the forest while Ash held his phone above his head, searching for a signal.

"It's no use," Lewis told the horseback rider. "Mako Island is a dead zone for cell phone signal."

"Maybe we just need to get up higher," Ash suggested.

"It could work," Lewis agreed. "Let's start heading to the highest point."

"Okay," Zane said before heading towards the high structure in the distance. It looked like a mountain at first glance, but little did any of them know, it was an inactive volcano.

"What if we're stuck here forever?" Ash stressed.

"We won't be," Lewis assured him. "Someone will come looking for us at some point, and if worst comes to worst, I'm sure if we put our heads together, we could make some oars put of all these tree branches," Lewis added, and a fallen tree branch crunched under his foot, as though for emphasis.

"And even if we are stuck here," Zane spoke up, "it wouldn't be so bad. No school. No rules. No nagging parents."

"Your father nags?" Lewis asked in disbelief.

"I wouldn't call it _nagging_ ," Zane said. "More like impossibly high expectations for me, and when I don't meet those expectations, I never hear the end of it."

"I hear you," Ash agreed. "I love horseback riding, but sometimes I wonder if that's the only thing my parents think I'm good at."

"My parents work a lot," Lewis said, "so I don't see them as often as I'd like, but they try to be there for all five of us. Still, four brothers and two workaholic parents? You don't exactly get attention very often."

Ash nodded. "Four brothers? I can barely tolerate an older brother and two sisters, one of which is graduated and out of the house. I can't imagine what it must be like with four siblings living under the same roof as you."

"I would like to have a sibling," Zane said. "My father works day and night, haven't seen my mother in ages… it'd be nice to have a sibling, but I guess Nate will have to do as an honorary brother."

Ash raised an eyebrow. "Nate? Now I feel bad for you."

"Nate isn't that bad. He can be jerk; I'm not going to lie, but it could be worse. At least I know Nate's always got my back," Zane pointed out.

"Like me and Cleo," Lewis related.

"I can't relate to that. Just moved here from the other side of the continent, so not many friends to mention quite yet," Ash said.

"You've got me," Lewis pointed out.

"And me," Zane added, surprising them. "What? Being stranded on an island can bring people closer together… or tear them apart, but I'm trying to be optimistic here. Besides, conversations with you two are much better than ones with Nate. All he talks about are girls and himself."

"I'm almost touched," Lewis said with a laugh as they came to a waterfall with a lengthy gap between the two sides, and Ash inched his way towards it, trying not to fall on the slippery rock.

Lewis didn't even hesitate before leaping across and landing on the other side; Ash soon followed.

Zane stumbled away from the edge and looked at the others.

"No way!" he shouted.

"Come on, Zane! We did it," Lewis pointed out.

"Well, um…" Zane tried to think of an excuse that didn't sound as lame as the one in his head, which was that he was afraid of falling. His fear of heights stemmed from a fear of falling, and if the rocks had been dry, he would've leaped without any worries, but there was no way he could jump that without slipping and falling. "There has to be another way."

Zane glanced around and took a step back, searching for a way around.

"Zane!" Lewis called. "You act fearless. Where's your confidence now?"

Zane pointed at some fleeing birds in the sky. "It flew away with those Bi-RDS!"

Zane had taken a step back, and he'd found only empty air as he fell down a hole, sliding down a steep path until he landed in a heap on the dusty ground, coughing from all the dirt and dust his fall had kicked up.

"Zane, are you all right?" Lewis called as he appeared, leaning over the hole in the ground to peer into the dark cave.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" Zane replied.

"Can you climb up?" Ash asked.

"No. It's way too steep," Zane said as he scrambled for purchase on the slippery slide and got about a foot up before sliding back down.

"I have to go down and get him," Lewis said.

"What?" Ash asked. "What if you get stu-"

"AHH!" Lewis screamed as he slid down the path into the cave.

"And he did it anyway," Ash muttered.

"Ow," Lewis muttered as he sat up, and he jumped as Ash yelped and slid down the path, nearly landing on top of Lewis as he stopped beside Lewis and Zane. "What are you doing here?"

"You jumped in," Ash pointed out.

"You were supposed to stay at the top and throw down a rope or something," Zane said.

"How was I supposed to know that?" Ash demanded. "And what rope?"

"A branch, a vine, even your jacket might have worked," Lewis answered.

"Why didn't you tell me that before I came down here?" Ash asked.

"As much as I would love to continue this argument, we need to find a way out of here," Zane said as he stood and brushed off his clothes.

"There probably isn't a way out," Ash mumbled as they walked further into the cave.

Zane walked around a corner, and his jaw dropped as he came face to face with one of the most beautiful sights he'd ever seen.

It was a circular pool of water, and the water was bluer and cleaner than anything Zane had ever seen, and it was so clean, it seemed to shine in the darkness of the cave. Uneven rocks made up all sides of them, and the pool had a tunnel of water leading out of the cave and into the unknown. A circular opening loomed high above them, allowing sunlight to filter inside and for them to glimpse the blue sky outside.

"This," Lewis mumbled.

"Is," Ash continued.

"Awesome," Zane finished.

Lewis knelt beside the pool and took some in his hand, allowing it to flow freely through his fingers.

"Wow," he whispered. "I may have to come back here sometime to get some rock and water samples."

"Is this a volcano?" Ash asked.

"Yeah, but it's been inactive for thousands of years, so I don't think we have to worry," Lewis said.

" _Think_?" Ash repeated.

"I _know_ we don't have to worry," Lewis rephrased. "Tidal rings," he said, looking at the pool.

"Now is not the time to be worrying about jewelry, Lewis," Zane said.

"No," Lewis said. "Tidal rings occur when the water moves up and down, which means this pool is connected to the ocean."

Zane nodded as he took off his sneakers. "I'll check it out. If I'm not back in a minute, start looking for another way out," he said before diving into the water and disappearing into the tunnel.

Ash and Lewis sat on the edge of the pool and waited. And waited. And waited. It felt like they'd been waiting an eternity before Zane resurfaced.

"It's about a twenty second swim," he told them. "Plenty of room. We can all fit."

Lewis nodded and hopped into the pool, but Ash hesitated.

"I can't," he said.

"Sure you can," Lewis said. "Twenty seconds, and we'll be free, Ash. It'll be fine."

"I can't swim," Ash informed him.

"You never learned?" Zane realized. It was rare to find someone in this town that didn't know how to swim. Cleo was the only person he could think of that didn't know how to swim.

Ash shook his head. "I spend almost all my time at school or horseback riding. I never had time to learn how to swim."

"We'll help you," Lewis offered. "My friend Cleo doesn't know how to swim either. Learned that the hard way when Nate pushed us into the lake. Anyway, Zane and I can help you. Come on." Lewis held out his hand.

Ash sighed before gripping Lewis's hand and sliding himself into the water, taking a deep gulp of air as Lewis tried to keep him from going under.

As soon as Ash was in the water, the now night sky glowed with moonlight as the silver full moon appeared in the small circular opening above their heads.

Almost immediately, the water began to glow, creating a beam of silver light, filling the entire pool, which began to bubble and boil, even though the temperature remained cool.

"You guys saw that, too, right?" Zane asked as the moon moved past the opening and vanished from sight. The pool returned to normal.

Lewis and Ash nodded.

"Spooky," Ash summed up before the three of them took a deep breath and ducked into the tunnel, swimming out of the cave, around a reef, and breaking the surface of the ocean.

"We're free!" Lewis cheered.

"Yeah, but we still don't know how to get back home," Zane pointed out.

As if on cue, a bright beam of light hit them, and they shielded their eyes as a boat came into view.

"It's my brother," Lewis realized.

"Lewis, come on!" Lenny called as the three of them swam towards the boat.

Lenny lowered the ladder, and Ash climbed on first, followed by Lewis, then Zane.

"Mom's real worried about you," Lenny said. "She sent me to come get you when you missed curfew for the first time in your entire life."

Lewis smiled. "Thanks, Lenny. How'd you know where to look for us?"

"Wilfred said he saw you guys heading out to sea, and I saw Nate's boat that he apparently gave you and put the pieces together," Lenny explained.

Lewis nodded. "Thanks."

"No problem, little bro. Now let's get you home before Mom stresses out even more."

They arrived on the shore, and the three teens went their separate ways. Zane and Ash towards their own houses while Lewis followed his older brother towards their home.

"Thank goodness you're okay!" Lewis's father exclaimed upon seeing his previously missing son.

"Sorry, Dad," Lewis said.

"It's fine. Your mother made you a plate," Jack McCartney told his second oldest son.

Lewis nodded, ate his dinner, and exhausted after the long day he had just had, went to bed.

He had no idea what surprises waited for him in the morning…

* * *

Lewis yawned as he entered the bathroom the following morning, and he turned on the shower.

Lewis hopped into the shower, and standing under the spray, everything was fine… until he felt a strange sensation in his legs.

His body seemed to be made of water and bubbles as the transformation took place, and Lewis gaped as he looked down and instead of seeing his legs, he saw a blueish green tail. Lewis tottered and teetered for a brief moment before falling backwards and landing on his back with water spraying all over him.

Lewis hurried to turn off the water, and he stared at his new tail, wondering what on earth to do.

Not knowing what else to do, Lewis grabbed his towel and dried off his tail, but nothing happened.

What to do? What to do? Would he be stuck like this forever? Should he call for help? How would he explain this?

Lewis dried off his upper body and hair until he was completely dry, and he watched as his tail vanished, replaced by his usual legs.

Lewis frowned in bewilderment as he climbed out of the bath tub and filled a glass with water.

He sat on the floor and poured some of the water on his hand. A few seconds passed before Lewis became mostly bubbles and water as his legs transformed into a tail.

Lewis dried off his hand and watched his tail change back to kegs. With an amazed laugh, he poured water on his hand again and watched as the transformation took place once again.

Lewis jumped as someone hammered on the door.

"Lewis, hurry up. Other people need to use the bathroom," his younger brother, Lucas, called.

"Uh, one second, Lucas! Almost done!" Lewis called, drying off his hand and watching as his tail once again became legs.

Lewis stood and got dressed before opening the door to see Lucas standing on the other side.

"Sorry, Lucas, bathroom's all yours," Lewis said before walking as fast as he could without looking suspicious and entered his room.

* * *

Zane was making breakfast when his dad entered the kitchen.

"Hey, Dad, want anything?" Zane asked as he turned around, and he jumped when he accidentally spilled a glass of water all over his dad's papers.

"Zane!" his father scolded. "Those are for a very important meeting today, and now, I have to go retype them all!"

"Sorry," Zane rushed to say as he hurried to clean up the water, getting it all over himself but barely noticing.

"You're making it worse," his father said, snatching up the papers and storming out of the room.

Zane sighed. It's like whatever he did, it wasn't good enough. He tries to make breakfast for his dad, and as usual, he only made everything wo-

Zane yelped as his body became mostly bubbles and water, and he fell to the floor as his legs transformed into something that wasn't legs, nor was it normal.

Zane rolled over, and his eyes widened when he saw a blueish green tail where his legs used to be.

Zane scrambled to grab his phone off of the counter, grunting as he dragged the heavy weight of his tail around, and he called Lewis.

"Lewis," he squeaked in shock. "You'll never guess what just happened."

"You grew a tail when you touched water."

"I grew a- wait. How'd you know?" Zane asked.

"The same thing happened to me," Lewis answered.

"Do you know how to change back?" Zane demanded as he heard footsteps in the next room. "And fast. My dad's coming."

"Dry off," Lewis said. "As soon as you're dry, you'll change back."

Zane grabbed a dish towel and dried off his hands and arms and sighed in relief as his tail vanished and his legs returned, and just in the nick of time. His father reentered the room.

"Zane," his father said, standing beside him. "What are you doing on the floor?"

"Uh," Zane rattled off the first excuse that popped into his head. "I'm, uh, looking for my contact. Yeah, I dropped it."

"You don't wear contacts, Zane," his father said, slowly.

"Huh. No wonder I couldn't find it. Thanks, Dad!" Zane exclaimed before sprinting out the front door.

His father stared after him in confusion before deciding he would never understand his son and answering his suddenly ringing phone.

* * *

Ash was rudely awakened by a bucket of water to the face.

"Time to get up!" his older brother laughed before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

"Not cool, Jordan!" Ash called after him before frowning as a strange sensation occurred in his legs, and Ash's jaw dropped as he became mostly water and bubbles. His jaw dropped even more when the water cleared away, and he saw a blueish green tail in the place of his legs.

The door burst open, and Ash appeared like a deer in a headlight.

"Ash, don't touch wat- too late," Zane said as he spotted the tail.

Lewis threw him a towel he retrieved from the bathroom. "Dry off. You'll change back when you're dry."

"How do you know that?" Ash asked as he dried off his face.

"The same thing happened to us," Lewis answered as Ash transformed back.

"Really?" Ash asked. "What's causing it?"

"No idea," Zane said. "Lewis, can we go to your house? It's closer, and your brothers and parents aren't there, right?"

Lewis nodded.

"Good idea," Ash said. "The last thing we need is one of my siblings ease dropping."

The three of them left Ash's house and walked towards Lewis's home, which was only a few minutes away.

"So we have tails," Zane said as they sat in Lewis's living room. "Blueish green, scaly tails that appear when we're wet-"

"And vanish when we're dry," Lewis finished.

"But what caused it? Why is it happening?" Ash demanded.

A knock sounded at the door, and Lewis sighed.

"That's Cleo. I forgot she was coming over," he said as he opened the front door. "Hey, Cleo, uh… I'm sorry to do this to you, but something came up," he said.

Cleo frowned. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. It's something important-" Lewis began.

"-but not important enough for you to know about it," Zane continued.

"Are you and Zane hanging out?" Cleo asked in surprise. "Have I stepped into a parallel universe?"

"Possibly," Ash replied.

"Anyway, Cleo, I'll call you later," Lewis offered before shutting the door.

"So how are we going to find out more?" Ash questioned. "Is there some kind of mermaid how to book?"

"We're not mermaids," Zane said, absolutely refusing to believe something that weird.

"He's right," Lewis agreed. "We're mer _men_."

"That's just too weird!" Zane sighed.

"Calling ourselves mermen is weirder than the tail itself?" Lewis asked.

"Good point," Zane admitted.

"Anyway, science is my thing. I'm sure I can figure this out," Lewis said, "and a good place start is by going in the water."

"No way," Ash said. "Not me."

"I'll come," Zane offered.

* * *

"So about ten seconds to transform, right?" Lewis said as they stood inches from the water on the beach.

Zane nodded. "Yep."

They stepped into the water, and Lewis began counting.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, te-"

Lewis was cut off as their bodies became water and bubbles before falling forward as their tails appeared.

Silence fell before they both began to laugh.

"Want to go for a swim?" Zane asked.

"We're already in the water," Lewis chuckled.

* * *

"Hey, Ash," Emma said, flatly, as she ran into him outside the JuiceNet Café.

"Hey, Emma," Ash said.

Emma and Ash didn't get along too well, and while Ash would love to change that, Emma didn't seem to want to make an effort.

Before either could decide whether or not to continue the conversation, Ash heard a loud engine from behind him, and he pushed Emma out of the way, falling backwards and skinning his elbows on the ground. Emma landed on the grass as Nate drove past on his motorcycle.

"Nate, you could've hurt us!" Ash shouted.

"So?" Nate said. "My parents didn't like it when the water police knocked on their door."

"Then you shouldn't have pranked us," Ash pointed out.

"Leave us alone, Nate," Emma said.

"You know, Ash, you may have made friends with Zane and Lewis, but they won't always be around the protect you, so you better be prepared when that day comes because some… misfortune might just fall on y-"

Nate was cut off by blocks of ice flying out of the fire hydrant as the knob busted off (probably from the volume of the water increasing as it froze until the knob couldn't hold back the water any long), and Nate yelped as he fell to the ground, covering his head with his hands.

"What the…" Emma mumbled, but when she turned to see if Ash was seeing this, too, he'd already run off.

* * *

"That swim was amazing," Zane said.

"I totally agree," Lewis said. "I saw specimens I only dreamt of ever seeing in person, and-"

"Guys!" Ash shouted as he appeared at their side. "You'll never guess what just happened," he said as they rushed into Zane's house (more like a mansion, actually).

Ash placed a glass of water on a nearby table, and he glanced at a bewildered Lewis and Zane before thrusting his hand towards the water and watching it freeze.

"Woah," Lewis said. "So we have powers now?"

"Let me try!" Zane exclaimed before twisting his hand, and his eyes widened when the ice melted into liquid water and began to boil. "I can heat things up!"

Lewis held his hand out towards the water, and he frowned when nothing happened. He tried again. Nothing. He tried a third time, and…

Still nothing.

"Maybe yours will just take longer to show themselves," Zane said. "It wouldn't make sense for us to have powers but not you when we all went through the same transformation."

Lewis sighed and nodded in agreement, but he couldn't help but wonder if he was always destined to be weaker than everyone else, for everyone else to be better than him. And in the back of his mind, he wondered if he was always destined to be nothing but… a loser.

* * *

 _VOTE:_

 _Who should find out about the three boys being mermaids first? Cleo or Emma?_

 _I have a specific scene planned for Rikki, so she can't find out until after that scene takes place, so either Emma or Cleo have to figure it out first._

 _Tell me your vote in the form of a review or a private message. You are also welcome to leave a suggestion for how that person finds out if you want to._

 _Thank you for reading the first chapter of my new story, and I will see you all next time with chapter 2._


	2. Pool Party Catastrophe

_I am so sorry this chapter took so long. I will not bore you with specific excuses; I will simply say life and being a teenager with poor motivation and poor mental health got in the way. Thank you for being patient, and thank you for all the kind reviews and for voting for which character (Cleo or Emma) should find out about Lewis, Zane, and Ash first._

 ** _Disclaimer: I do not own the TV show H2O: Just Add Water._**

* * *

"So… this could be a dilemma," Zane muttered, staring at the trails of water shooting out of the shower head. "What to do, what to do…"

Zane only had a shower in his bathroom; you'd think in a house as big as Zane's, there would be more than one bathtub, but their family never felt the need to have more than one bathtub. His dad was getting ready in the master bathroom, so Zane couldn't use the bathtub, so what was he going to do?

Zane locked the bathroom door and placed several towels on the floor before opening the shower door and sitting on the tiles with the door open. Zane sighed as his body became bubbles and water and watched as his legs became a blue tail, flopping to the ground just outside the shower.

Zane grumbled under his breath as he scrambled to grab his shampoo and body wash from a shelf high above him (which was only at shoulder height if he was standing), and he yelped as the bottles came crashing down, knocking him on the head.

Zane muttered under his breath as he rubbed at the bump on top of his head.

This was going to take some getting used to…

* * *

Ash tentatively poured some water into the wooden box Rebel drank off (I don't know what horses drink out of in the stables, so if this is wrong, whoops), and he took a step back as Rebel began to slurp (can horses even slurp? Ash wondered) at the water as Ash headed for the stable door.

Rebel snorted and accidentally sprayed water all over Ash, who cried out and dropped the tin bucket he'd been holding.

"Oh, no," he muttered before his body became water and bubbles as he transformed into a mermai-merman, he mentally corrected. Ash flopped to the ground beside Rebel with a magnificent blue tail instead of legs, and Rebel stared at him as though he were an alien from outer space (which Ash might as well have been). He even leaned down to sniff him, as though to make sure the half fish half human thing in front of him was indeed Ash.

"Ash?" Jordan called, and Ash froze. "You in here?"

"Yeah, but don't come in here!" Ash blurted as he saw the tip of Jordan's head appear above the stable door (luckily, the stable doors towered over everyone, so Jordan wasn't tall enough to look over it).

Ash could hear the frown in Jordan's voice. "Why not?"

"I'm changing out of my riding gear," Ash blurted.

"Okay," Jordan replied. "Don't be too long, or I'm leaving you here."

"Okay," Ash replied, and he heard Jordan's retreating footsteps.

Ash sighed in relief and glanced up at Rebel, who had seemingly adjusted to seeing Ash as half fish.

"Are you going to help me since this is mostly your fault?" Ash asked.

Rebel neighed as he turned away from Ash and returned to drinking his water.

Ash sighed. "That's what I thought."

* * *

Early morning found Lewis swimming in the ocean with a blue tail he was only just learning how to work, but with a big grin on his face.

Lewis watched as fish swirled around him, and he hesitantly approached a dolphin, having never seen one this close before. The dolphin stared at him in nervousness, obviously suspicious of this foreign creature.

Lewis reached towards the mammal, slowly, and he rested his hand on the dolphin. When the dolphin didn't protest, Lewis began stroking the dolphin, and after a few moments, the dolphin squeaked and rubbed against Lewis, affectionately, obviously trying to tell Lewis the dolphin liked him. Lewis laughed before holding onto the dolphin's fin and allowing himself to be pulled around by the dolphin, swimming with the animal for several minutes before releasing his hold.

Lewis watched as the dolphin disappeared into the distance before he turned and saw all kinds of fish staring at him, probably wondering what he was, but it didn't take long before the nervous fish began to approach him. They peered at him and bumped into him, as though trying to figure out if he was a threat, but it wasn't more than a minute before the fish accepted him as a part of the ocean.

It was a majestic sight to see all those fish, some of which he didn't even recognize the species of.

Lewis stared at all the fish roaming the waters around him before his eyes landed on another dolphin.

He wondered…

* * *

"This is a catastrophe!" Zane exclaimed as they sat in Lewis's room. "Moisturizer is mainly water! I can't moisturize ever again!"

"You moisturize?" Ash asked.

Zane shrugged. "What? You thought my skin was naturally this soft?"

"If dolphins can swim for miles, maybe we can, too," Lewis muttered. "We could swim all the way to Fiji, maybe even America if we really wanted to. Isn't that awesome?"

"More importantly," Ash said with a pointed look at Zane, ignoring Lewis's musings, "What are we going to do about gym class? Don't we have some kind of swimming lessons? They did at my old school."

"Ah!" Zane groaned. "I didn't even think of that. No moisturizer, gym class complications, and that's only the tip of the ice berg… no pun intended, Ash… maybe we _should_ tell someone."

"Like who?" Ash demanded.

"Our parents, a doctor, the police?" Zane suggested.

"And end up in cages or display tanks or labs or all of the above?" Lewis pointed out. "Do you _want_ to end up as a human science experiment?"

Zane sighed. "What about your guys' siblings? Can they keep the secret?"

"My younger sister, no," Ash stated. "I almost never see my older sister. She's studying in England. And my older brother… he's great, but he's a bit of a motor mouth. It wouldn't be the first time he's accidentally told a secret of mine."

"My little brothers, definitely not," Lewis answered. "My older brother, maybe, but right now… we can't take the chance."

"What about Cleo?" Zane asked. "Lewis, you're really close to her, aren't you?"

Lewis sighed. "I love Cleo… as a friend," he rushed to add when they smiled in a suggestive manner. "But Cleo is a scientist. Maybe not like me, but still a scientist, and although I doubt she would turn us in, she's known for getting caught up in the heat of the moment and saying something she doesn't mean to say."

Zane pursed his lips in disappointment.

"Zane," Lewis said. "Maybe someday, we will be able to tell somebody. A friend, a parent, a sibling, someone we trust, but… right now, we just can't risk it. We don't even have a handle on this ourselves. We need to figure out how to… _live_ as mermen before we can even think of involving someone else."

Zane nodded. "I get it. You guys are right."

* * *

"Hey, Lewis!" Cleo exclaimed as she appeared at his side.

Lewis was alone by his locker until Cleo appeared. Since the lockers were organized according to last name, Zane was with the Bs; Ash was with the Ds; and Lewis was with the Ms, leaving Lewis quite a few hallways away from his new friends.

"Oh, Cleo," Lewis blurted. "Um, nothing's really been happening with me. Same old, same old, right? Oh, would you look at the time? It's almost time for biology, and you know how much I love that class. Gotta go!"

I know, I know. Lewis seems like a horrible liar; Lewis actually isn't that bad of a liar, except when it comes to Cleo. Lewis and Cleo usually told each other everything. Keeping a secret from her was just… an alien concept to him.

Lewis tried to walk around a frowning Cleo and disappear into the crowd, but he was roughly cut off by Nate.

"Hey, geek," Nate sneered.

"Move, Nate. I need to get to class," Lewis ordered, and he tried to walk around Nate, but Nate shoved him, his palm connecting with Lewis's chest. There was a slight clatter as Lewis's back hit the metal lockers.

"That's enough, Nate," Cleo commanded, sternly, trying to get between them.

"Stay out of this, Cleo," Nate muttered before turning back to Lewis. "Why has Zane been spending so much time with you this past week? I barely see him."

"I don't know, Nate," Lewis replied. "Why don't you ask him?"

"Why would he want to hang out with a loser like you, anyway?" Nate demanded, as though Lewis hadn't spoken. "You should watch your back, McCartney, because someday, Zane and Ash won't be around to protect you, and you'll regret ever messing with me."

"Nate, I didn't do anything. Maybe Zane grew a conscious," Lewis suggested. "Now, let me go."

"What are you going to do if I don't?" Nate asked.

"That's enough, Nate!" Cleo yelled.

"Yeah, Nate, that's enough," Zane agreed as him and Ash appeared beside them.

Nate gave Lewis one last glare before giving him a good shove and vanishing into the crowd of bustling students.

"Are you okay?" Zane asked, some genuine concern shining through.

Lewis laughed. "I was right. You did grow a conscious. But seriously, I'm fine. Nate was just jealous you started hanging out with me and Ash, and he wanted to know why you would suddenly start hanging out with a loser like me."

"You're not a loser," Zane stated. "And don't worry about Nate. He won't try anything as long as we have your back."

"You can count on us," Ash agreed.

Lewis nodded. "Good to know," he said before remembering Cleo was still standing beside him and looking more confused by the minute.

"I'll catch up with you guys," he assured the other two mermen before turning to Cleo. "How have you been?"

"Good, but how did that happen?" Cleo questioned.

"How did what happen?" Lewis responded, although he was pretty sure he knew what she was talking about.

"You're suddenly friends with Zane Bennett," Cleo pointed out. "The snotty rich kid who's been picking on us since before we even knew each other?"

"He's not that bad once you get to know him," Lewis told her. "Ash, Zane, and I got stranded on Mako Island together the other day, and we kind of bonded over it, I guess. It does feel good to have guy friends, though. Cleo, you're the best friend I ever could've asked for, and Emma is fantastic, too. But I was worried spending so much time with girls was starting to turn me into one," Lewis confessed.

Cleo nodded. "I know. Your sneakers are a girls size eight."

"What? They are?" Lewis demanded, looking at his shoes to discover that he was in fact wearing plain girls sneakers. "Is it noticeable that these are girls shoes?"

Cleo shook her head with a giggle. "No. Anyway, I'm glad you've got such protective friends. Nate looked like he was going to beat you up right here and now with teachers everywhere. I don't know what he would've done if they hadn't shown up."

Lewis nodded. "They are pretty great friends, aren't they?"

* * *

"I have to miss Miriam's party," Zane muttered, looking at the invitation the popular blonde girl had handed to him earlier that day. "Miriam and I have known each other for two years, and I've never missed one until now."

"The first party I've been invited to in this town, and I have to miss it," Ash agreed. "I've heard they're the coolest events with the coolest people. I'll probably never be invited anywhere cool again."

"Why do you guys have to miss it?" Lewis questioned, having not been invited and didn't know exactly what kind of party it was.

"It's a pool party," Zane explained.

Lewis nodded. "Maybe you guys can still go."

"Hello?" Ash sing songed, gesturing to his legs. "Do you remember growing a tail when you touched water?"

Lewis chuckled. "Well, maybe we can learn to control it. We won't know until we try."

* * *

"Maybe it's mind over matter," Lewis suggested. "Like we can control it."

The three boys were standing in a secluded section of the beach with Ash seated on a rock, and Zane and Lewis standing a little closer to the sea.

"Ash, are you sure you don't want to try with us?" Zane asked, referring to trying to control their merman powers.

"No, thank you," Ash replied.

Zane shrugged, not wanting to push Ash any further, and together, Lewis and Zane stepped into the water.

"No tail, no tail, no tail, no tail," they chorused, mentally counting to ten.

Nine and a half seconds passed, and they yelped as their bodies became water and bubbles before settling into their merman forms. Lewis and Zane face planted into the ocean.

Lewis spat water out of his mouth. "I think we can assume it does not work that way."

Zane suddenly grasped Lewis's arm in panic, and Lewis followed his gaze to see Cleo walking along the sand towards them.

Zane and Lewis dragged themselves (since the water wasn't deep enough to swim) behind a rock as Cleo appeared beside Ash, who jumped as he noticed her for the first time.

"All right, who blabbed? This is my thinking spot," Cleo stated.

"Your thinking spot?" Zane repeated.

"She comes here to think," Lewis told his new friend. "With siblings, you don't get much peace, so I showed her my secret fishing spot, and she comes here to think."

Zane nodded. "Ah," he said in a 'eureka' tone.

"Lewis, you want to do some fishing?" Cleo asked.

"Uh… no," Lewis said, awkwardly.

"Why not?" Cleo questioned as she approached the rock they were hiding behind.

"Don't come any closer," Lewis rushed to say.

Cleo paused. "Why not?"

"Uh…" Lewis stammered.

"We're naked," Zane blurted while Lewis looked at him in confusion.

"Why?" Cleo asked, knitting her eyebrows.

"Why not?" Zane fired back.

Cleo shrugged. "Good point," she said before walking away. As much as she loved Lewis, she did not want to see him (or Zane, for that matter) naked, so she strolled away before that could happen.

"Why would we be naked?" Lewis questioned.

Zane shrugged. "Did you have any better ideas?"

Lewis sighed. "Unfortunately, no."

"Anyway, let's pull ourselves onto dry land. I'll use my powers to dry us off," Zane said.

* * *

"I just have one question," Ash sulked as they walked into Ash's currently empty house. "Why us? Why _me_? I didn't ask for any of this to happen! I'm the new kid in town, and now, I can't even go to a party because I might risk our secret." As Ash complained, he used his powers to freeze his glass of fruit punch and make an instant popsicle.

"One, that was technically two questions," Zane stated. "Two, I know your pain, brother. Almost all of my friends are going to be there, and if I don't show up, I risk losing ninety percent of my friends and becoming a friendless loser." As Zane muttered this statement, he grabbed a bag of marshmallows out of the cupboard and heated one up before placing it in his mouth.

"Seriously, you two?" Lewis demanded. "Ash, you just made an instant popsicle! Zane, you just melted marshmallows without a camp fire or a microwave. Most people would love to do that! I don't even have a power. I didn't even get invited to Miriam's party, and other than Cleo, Emma, and you guys, I don't have any friends, which by Zane's definition, makes me a loser. Zane, you said you were afraid of becoming a _friendless_ loser. _We're_ your friends. Is that not good enough for you?"

Lewis stormed out before either boy could stop him.

"I didn't mean it that way," Zane said.

Ash nodded. "I know that. But Lewis was bullied by Nate this morning. Who knows what he said before we got there? Zane, I just met you, but Lewis knows what a jerk you were before the Mako Island incident. He's willing to forgive you and even become friends with you, but you need to prove to him that you won't leave him in the dust the minute something better comes along.

"Lewis was right. All we do is complain about what's happening to us, but truthfully, this is an amazing thing, and we haven't even… explored it yet. Who knows what we can do?"

Zane smiled. "Let's go find Lewis."

* * *

Lewis was walking down the street when Nate and a few other guys appeared out of no where, surrounding him.

"Hey, Fish Boy," one of the others laughed, and Lewis felt his heart skip a beat, but then, the boy pulled his hat down over his face, and Lewis realized with relief that they were talking about his hobby of fishing and not his being part fish.

"Where are your body guards, loser?" one of the other boys asked.

"They're not my body guards," Lewis said, trying to walk away, but Nate pushed him back.

"Our little loser here is looking a little dirty," Nate laughed, glancing at Lewis's arms, which were covered in sand from the beach. "Why don't we give him a bath?"

"What?" Lewis asked as they grabbed his arms and dragged him towards a nearby house. "Guys, seriously! Stop! No!"

The boys ignored him as they tugged him into the backyard of the house, and he saw Miriam and what was obviously her party.

"Dunk the loser! Dunk the loser!" the crowd began chanting, and Lewis couldn't stop them from throwing him into the pool. Lewis immediately felt his transformation begin to take place.

Out of pure instinct, Lewis threw his hand out, like he'd seen Ash and Zane do when they used their powers, and water splashed out of the pool, dousing everyone within five feet of the pool, which was basically everyone at the party.

Lewis gaped as everyone gasped and glared at him before running inside to get dried off and to get away from the 'loser' that had just splashed them. Exactly Lewis's intention.

The front gate creaked open just as Lewis transformed into a merman.

"Lewis, what on earth hap- what the…" Cleo trailed off as she caught sight of his tail.

"Cleo. Cleo, I know this is weird, but you need to help me," Lewis stammered as Cleo stumbled backwards. "I need you to get Zane and Ash."

"Uh-Uh-Uh," she stuttered.

"Please, Cleo, if you've ever been my friend, if you've ever cared about me, you'll find Zane and Ash and bring them here," Lewis said, earnestly.

Cleo took a deep breath.

"Please," Lewis begged.

Cleo sighed. "I'll be right back. But what if someone else sees you?"

"I'll handle that. Just please hurry," Lewis pleaded as Cleo darted out of the gate to find the two boys.

Lewis reached out with his powers and locked the back door, but he wasn't sure how long that would hold them. He just prayed Cleo would hurry.

* * *

"Where could he be?" Zane asked. "He couldn't have gotten that far in a few minutes."

Ash opened his mouth to reply, but he was interrupted by a female voice calling from behind them.

"Zane! Ash!" Cleo cried as she ran to meet them. "Lewis needs your help!"

"What do you mean?" Zane asked.

Zane and Ash couldn't explain the fear that rose up in them. It wasn't a fear of their secret getting exposed, although that was a part of it, but despite the fact that the boys had only been friends for a short time, the thought of Lewis in display tanks and being dissected on metal tables fueled a protective nature they didn't even know they had for one another.

"I don't know what happened exactly, but when I got to Miriam's party, I saw this big splash, and when I opened the gate, everyone was inside, laughing, and Lewis was in the pool. I saw him transform into this half fish… thing… and he begged me to come get you," Cleo explained.

Zane and Ash were running before Cleo could even finish the explanation, and Zane led Ash to Miriam's house, where they threw open the back gate and found Miriam inside of the house, yanking on the door, which was locked from the outside.

They found Lewis still in the pool, and Zane raced over to him.

"Lewis, what happened?" he asked.

"I ran into Nate and his friends. He dragged me here and threw me in," Lewis rushed to explain.

"Cleo, you have to get him out of the pool," Zane said.

"Aren't you going to help?" Cleo asked.

Ash pursed his lips. "Uh, we kind of have a thing about water… like Lewis."

"You all have tails, too?" she demanded. "So… is it only when you touch water or…"

"Yes," Zane said, "and hurry. I don't think that locked door will hold them for much longer."

"I can buy us some time," Ash said before freezing the lock on the back door in place.

Cleo grabbed Lewis's hand and tried to drag him out of the pool, but he was much heavier than she expected. Lewis in his merman form weighed more than Zane and Ash (in their human forms) and Cleo combined, and Cleo obviously wasn't expecting that because she almost got thrown into the pool herself.

"You weigh a ton," she muttered.

Lewis let go of her hand, feeling confident in his powers now. "I've got this."

Lewis held out his hand and concentrated, and the guys and Cleo watched in amazement as a tendril of water rose up out of the pool and wrapped around Lewis's chest before lifting him out of the water and onto the solid ground.

Zane shook himself out of his shock and twisted his hand, curling it into a fist, and steam rolled off of Lewis's tail. The blue scales began to smoke and dry until they began to change, going from blue to almost white to the pale color of Lewis's skin. The smoke obscured their view, and when the steam began to fade, Lewis's legs had returned.

"Let's go," Ash stated before they ran out of the gate, but Zane paused and smirked.

He reached out with his powers and evaporated the water in the pool before melting the ice on the lock and following his friends.

 _That's what you get for messing with my friends_ , Zane thought.

* * *

"You found your power," Zane said as they sat on the rocks in the secluded part of the beach they'd been using to experiment with their transformations earlier.

Lewis nodded. "Yep. Now… Cleo, you understand that you can't tell anyone about this? Not your parents, not Emma, okay?"

Cleo nodded. "I understand. I'm not the biggest fan of Zane, and I think this merman thing is a little weird, but I don't want to see any of you in display tanks or as science experiments or whatever. What I do want to know is… how did this happen?"

Ash sighed before telling her the story of what happened on Mako and how they discovered their tails and powers.

"So I think it's safe to say our transformations had something to do with the Moon Pool," Ash stated.

"Moon Pool?" Zane repeated.

Ash shrugged, raising an eyebrow. "The moon caused the pool of water to react in some way. What else would we call it?"

Zane nodded. "Good point."

"So you guys are going to keep this a secret… from everyone?" Cleo questioned.

Lewis nodded. "For now," he added. "We talked about telling our siblings or parents, but I think we need to figure out exactly what we are and what we can do and what happened to us before we tell anyone else."

Cleo nodded. "That makes sense. But Lewis, we're best friends. Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Lewis pursed his lips. "I don't know. Maybe because I didn't understand it myself, and I guess I'm kind of afraid of what I don't understand. Telling you would've changed our friendship a lot, and I wasn't sure if it would be for better or worse. So I didn't say anything at all."

Cleo nodded. "Don't worry, Lewis. You've always been there for me. I'm going to be here for you this time. Your secret's safe with me."

"Thanks, Cleo," Lewis stated, hugging her.

"I have to go meet up with Emma, but I'll see you guys later," Cleo said, and Lewis watched as she disappeared into the distance, trying not to think about how beautiful his best friend was.

"You so like her," said Zane.

Lewis glanced back at him. "I do not."

"Yes, you do."

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do."

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do."

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do."

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do."

"Yes, I do."

"No, you don't… wait. What?" Zane asked.

Ash and Lewis burst out laughing.

"I can't believe you fell for that!" Lewis laughed.

Zane sighed. "Yeah, yeah. Wanna go for a swim?"

"Sure," Lewis agreed before they approached the water.

"Guys!" Ash called after them, and they glanced back.

"Yeah?" Lewis replied.

"Would it be okay if I came, too?" Ash asked, hesitantly.

Ash didn't know what it was exactly that changed his mind. Maybe it was Lewis's speech earlier about how they had these amazing powers. Maybe it was Lewis almost getting caught that day and that Ash wanted to know how to use his powers if he were ever in that position. Maybe it was Lewis mentioning how he was afraid of what he didn't understand, and… Ash understood that, and if there was one thing Ash knew it was that he was tired of being afraid.

Lewis smiled. "Come on."

The three of them stepped into the water, and Zane grinned.

"Let's see what this tail can do," he said before they leaped into the ocean and began to swim.

* * *

"Maybe it was just a trick of the light," he suggested. "The sun reflecting off the waves, maybe."

Two men stared each other down. One was old and sitting at a desk while the other, a younger male in his late twenties, stood across from him.

The older man slammed a picture- taken with an underwater camera- on the table.

"You call that a trick of the light?" he said.

The picture was a blurry one, but it was clear enough to see three blue tails with human upper bodies, but the faces remained hidden in the blurry image.

"But… sir.. mermen?" the younger man asked.

The older shrugged. "I've seen mermaids before. For years, I had no proof they existed after I allowed one to escape. But this time, I'm going to capture a mermaid or a merman or whatever… and this time, I'm not letting it get away."

The younger male was frightened of the hungry gaze in his boss's eyes.

"But I can't do this alone," the man muttered. "Get Denman on the phone."

The younger male nodded before rushing to obey the order, not wanting to be in the same room with that man for another minute. The expression on his face was enough to scare him witless.

The older man stared at the image on the computer, placing the printed version in the locked drawer of his desk, and attempted to clean it up enough.

"Who are you?" he wondered, squinting to try and make out the boys' facial features.

He'd let a mer-person escape many years ago. This time, he would not allow one of them to slip through his fingers.

* * *

 _I was originally going to do this chapter with Zane going to Miriam's party and getting thrown into the pool, but since Cleo was going to be the one to find out, I thought it would be more fitting with Lewis, and Lewis didn't seem like the type to go to a pool party, given his current situation with water and a tail._

 _Also, if you want to see more H2O from me, check out my other account Myra109. I have one H2O story on there and am having a poll on which story I should post for my 200th story. Some of the options are H2O, so if you want to see more H2O stories from me, please check that out._

 _Please forgive any spelling/grammar errors. Thanks for reading! Goodbye, everyone!_


	3. Tangled In A Web Of Fears

_NOTE: I am new to this fandom. I am doing the best I can, but it might take a while for me to reach my full writing abilities in this fandom. Entering a new fandom is like walking on shaky, new born legs. You need to give it time, so that my writing in this fandom can grow stronger. I hope this chapter has enough detail._

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing._**

* * *

"Woah!" Jordan exclaimed.

Ash's family was seated in the living room with his parents and older brother on the couch and his little sister sitting on the floor, and they were all watching some kind of shark documentary Ash didn't have much interest in.

"Don't want to mess with one of those; that's for sure," Ash's dad said.

"They'd rip you to bits," their mother agreed. "Seriously, dear," she lowered her voice, "Ash is already afraid of water. You don't need to give him another reason to be afraid of it."

"Honey, Ash isn't afraid of the water because of sharks. It's because my sister nearly let Ash drown in the pool when he was two," Xavier Dove, Ash's dad, muttered, and it was clear him and his sister weren't on the best of terms.

"I suppose you're right," Zoe Dove, Ash's mother, sighed. "But still."

"Lillian," Ash whispered, and she glanced up, standing as he beckoned her into the kitchen. "What chore do you hate the most?" Ash asked in a quiet voice as they stood in the kitchen.

"Laundry. Why?" she questioned.

"Would you be willing to trade chores? I do the laundry if you do the dishes?" he offered.

"I know you're afraid of water, but you're afraid of doing the dishes?" she demanded, sounding like she was caught between teasing him and being concerned for him.

"I'm not afraid," Ash responded. "I'm just tired of washing Jordan's dishes. He eats like a pig. At least I can tolerate getting the food stains out of his clothes."

Lillian nodded. "Good point. I'll take that deal… for ten bucks, on top of doing the laundry."

Ash rolled his eyes and handed her a crumpled ten dollar bill before heading into the living room to join his parents and brother while Lillian tended to the dishes.

"This is the best part!" Xavier exclaimed. "The feeding frenzy."

Ash watched in disgust as sharks dove across the screen, tearing some poor, innocent sea creature to bits. It physically turned his stomach, and he was forced to look away.

"How can you even bare to watch this, Dad?" Ash said, disturbed by the image of what his father had called the feeding frenzy, and he vanished into his room while his mother turned to his father with a raised eyebrow.

"I've got this one," Xavier assured her. "You told me so. You told me so."

Zoe nodded. "That's what I like to hear," she said before turning back to the novel in her lap.

* * *

"Guess how long we can hold our breath for?" Lewis asked Cleo.

"Well, usually, you can't even hold your breath for fifteen seconds, but I'm assuming that's increased since becoming part fish?" Cleo replied.

Cleo, Zane, and Lewis were sitting at an outdoor table at the Juice Net Café, waiting for Ash to arrive. Zane and Lewis had gone for a swim that morning and had discovered a surprising fact: they couldn't breath underwater, but they could hold their breath for impossibly (for ordinary people, anyway) long amounts of time.

"Well, I used to be able to hold my breath for fifteen _seconds_ ," Lewis responded. "Now, it's fifteen _minutes_."

Cleo gaped. "You're kidding!"

Zane shook his head. "We could probably stay under longer if we really tried."

"Oh, really?" Lewis smiled. "Let's make it a competition after school."

Zane nodded. "You're on! Do you think we can convince Ash?"

Lewis shrugged. "We can try."

Ash had gone for a swim with them the other day, after the pool party catastrophe, but he'd been such a nervous wreck, he hadn't been able to let go and enjoy being a merman. He hadn't even lasted five minutes before getting out of the water and going home. It was progress, but it would take a while before Ash could truly embrace being a merman.

As if on cue, Ash appeared and seated himself at the table between Zane and Cleo. He was slouched and looked like he was in a bad mood, but something told his friends he didn't want to talk about it. Cleo was slightly oblivious to Ash's feelings; she was usually very empathetic when it came to others, but she barely knew Ash, so it was hard for her to read his body language. As for Lewis and Zane… well, how they could read Ash so well… the reason was… strange, to say the least.

Ever since what happened on Mako, the three boys had felt… connected. Not just because they were all dealing with the problems of being mermen, but they were emotionally connected. Some people may say it was because they'd gone and we're still going through the same experience, but Ash, Zane, and Lewis disagreed. This connection… it was more than finding common ground, more than anything they had ever known. This bond was more powerful than the magic that had embraced them, and the worst part was… they had no idea how to put this bond into words. But they knew it existed, and that was enough.

"Ash, guess how long they can hold their breath for?" Cleo asked, making sure to lower her voice as a group of people passed by their table. "Fifteen minutes!"

Ash nodded. "Great. So did anyone finish that English assignment? If all of our assignments are going to be this hard, I can say goodbye to straight As," he stated, changing the subject. "And that geography project? That's due _Monday_."

"Ash," Zane said, hesitantly. "Lewis and I are going for a swim after school. Are you sure you don't want to come?"

Ash shook his head. "No, thanks. I have horseback riding. Anyway, does anybody have their Algebra notes on hand?"

Lewis and Zane glanced at each other in disappointment before Lewis handed Ash his Algebra notes and they changed the topic of their conversation to anything except for their recent… development (aka, the strange phenomenon of becoming mermen).

* * *

"Ash?" Cleo said after Lewis and Zane had left for their own classes (Ash and Cleo had history together). "Maybe you should try… getting used to this. Ash, I hate to break it to you, but it doesn't look like this mermen thing is going away, and if you don't adjust to your life as a mermen… it could be dangerous. Lewis and Zane are figuring out ways to avoid getting wet, but you're not, and all it takes is one slip up to land you in display tanks or labs, and none of us want to see that happen."

Ash sighed. "You're right. But that doesn't mean I can't put it off as long as I can," he added before vanishing into the crowd.

Cleo pursed her lips. At least she tried…

* * *

Ash seated himself in the front row of Ms. King's class beside Emma Gilbert and began pulling his books out of his bag.

"Hey, arrogant low life," she said with a teasing look in her eyes. Ash and Emma had this strange feud that had been going on since he moved here, and they both got jobs at the café. At first, it was a genuine feud, but over time, it had become more of a joke than anything else.

"Hey, Emma," he muttered.

Emma frowned. "Are you okay? Usually, you'd be calling me uptight or control freak or something along those lines by now."

Ash nodded. "I'm fine. It's just been a weird couple of days."

Emma nodded. "I know the feeling."

Ash laughed, surprising her. "Trust me, you have no idea."

A dark skinned girl with long brown hair seated herself beside Ash, and she smiled sweetly at him. She was wearing running shorts and a magenta tank top, and she looked athletic and lean with beautiful eyes and an even prettier smile. She was attractive, even though she wore no make up.

"Hey, Ash," she chirped.

"Hey, Brenda," he replied (Brenda is my OC and Byron's twin sister. They're both surfers, but she's the one that won the award and the one Miriam threw the party for. Byron will come into the story later).

"You weren't at Miriam's party," Brenda stated.

"Yeah," Ash responded. "Sorry, I wanted to be there to support you, but my group of friends isn't on the best of terms with Miriam and her group of friends. You know what I mean?"

Brenda nodded. "Right. Wasn't your friend the one that got thrown into the pool? Louie?"

"Lewis," Ash corrected.

"I'm so sorry about that. Truthfully, I think Miriam just wanted to have a party. She just acted like she was throwing it for me to have a reason to have one," Brenda told him.

Ash nodded. "That Miriam is something, isn't she?"

Brenda nodded. "Yes, she is."

Emma wasn't prepared for the unexpected anger that hit her when Brenda twirled a lock of hair around her finger and smile flirtatiously at Ash. She didn't know why she suddenly felt so enraged… or maybe jealous is a better word. But why would she be jealous? Ash could date whoever he wanted. Brenda could flirt with whoever she wanted. It wasn't like Emma owned Ash or even liked him in more than a frenemy kind of way… right?

"Do you like Ash?"

The voice surprised her, and Emma jumped as she turned around to face Cleo. Her elbow connected with her open water bottle, which splashed all over Ash, who leaped off of his chair without a moment of hesitation and sprinted out of the classroom.

"Ash!" Emma called, and she went to follow him, but Cleo hurried to pull her back to her seat.

"He's fine. Just going to get cleaned up," Cleo said, and Emma frowned because Cleo is a really bad liar. Emma couldn't help but feel like there was something she didn't know. "Anyway, do you like him?"

"Do you?" Emma fired back.

Cleo frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"Cough it up, Cleo. You are one of the worst liars I know. You're hiding something," Emma stated.

"What?" Unconsciously, Cleo's voice shot up several octaves until the word came out in a high pitched squeak. "That's ridiculous."

Emma raised an eyebrow.

Cleo sighed. "Fine. Ash is…"

 _Come on, Cleo, think of a convincing lie!_ Cleo thought, racking her brain for any lie that would be strong enough to convince Emma, who had always been able to see right through Cleo when she lied. _There's got to be something up here somewhere._

"-afraid of water," she blurted, which wasn't exactly a lie. "I found out, and I told him I would keep it a secret, so please don't tell him I told you."

Emma nodded. "Of course, but… why would he need to keep that secret?"

Cleo took a deep breath. "It's a really bad fear. Like panic attack territory. And he's the new kid. He didn't want to be judged for something like that before he even set foot in the school. I'm sure you can understand that."

Emma nodded. "I can. Don't worry. I won't bring it up."

Ash returned a few moments later, and he took his seat between Emma and Brenda, acting as though nothing had happened, but Emma could still see the paleness that had crept into his skin after the scare he'd received when she'd spilled her water all over him.

Cleo elbowed Emma and hissed in her ear, "Ask him out!"

"What?" Emma demanded, feeling heat rose into her cheeks as her skin turned a rosy red. Emma couldn't believe it. She was blushing! She might as well have confirmed Cleo's belief that Emma like-liked Ash.

"See? You're blushing! You do like him!" Cleo whispered. "It doesn't have to be a date. We can hang out after school- you, me, Ash, Lewis, and Zane. That way, it will just be friends hanging out. It won't be a date."

Emma pondered this suggestion. On one hand, it would help her to get closer to Ash without making it obvious; the swimmer didn't really hang out with the horseback rider outside of school and work, so spending some time with him outside of those two places would be great, even if there were three other people with them. On the other hand, she could completely embarrass herself and ruin any chance she had with Ash. And on the other-other hand (that doesn't even make sense, she told herself, but decided proper English and idioms and whatnot were the least of her worries compared to _boys_ ), she was maybe… slightly… kind of… sort of… disappointed that this gathering wouldn't be a real date. But she'd never admit that out loud, especially to Cleo. She'd never hear the end of it!

Emma sighed, reluctantly, and nodded. "Fine," she agreed.

"Ash," Cleo said, "would it be okay if Emma hung out with the four of us after school?"

Ash smiled that charming grin Emma did her best to avoid melting at by sticking her nose in the air. "Sure. But why would you want to hang out with an arrogant pretty boy such as myself?" he added with a smirk.

"Maybe I want to spend more time with you just to have more time to think of nicknames for you, Mr. Perfect," Emma commented.

"You're on, Ms. Perfect," he laughed before turning to face the chalkboard as the teacher stepped into the room.

"Aw, you guys have the same last name already!" Cleo exclaimed.

Emma elbowed her and smiled as Cleo gave a small yelp and glared at her as she rubbed her side.

* * *

The ocean was beyond beautiful. Of course, Lewis had known that already, but he'd never seen the ocean like this.

As a merman, Lewis could truly see the ocean in a way no one else could. Not only could he swim deep into the ocean and see plants and fish he'd only seen in books but never in person, but he also felt at home in the ocean. He felt connected to it, bonding with it. When he was on land, he was just shrimpy, geeky, scrawny Lewis McCartney, but in the ocean… he felt strong, powerful. Like he belonged.

Of course, Lewis was still nervous about this whole development. He was half fish, for goodness sake! But that didn't stop him from smiling at the tingling in his fingers or the energy surging through his entire body as he found himself submerged in ocean water. It was like a baby discovering they could walk for the first time; unfamiliar and a little scary, but it gave them a sense of strength. That's how Lewis felt in the water.

By the grin on Zane's face, Lewis knew his friend felt the same way.

Zane and Lewis began their swim, experiencing with the unfamiliar muscles they'd gained as mermen and testing out their speed, how long they could hold their breath for, and their strength (boy, were their tails strong. Zane had nearly broken a rock with his tail, and that was by accident).

The only hard part about swimming was the danger that came with it; fishing boats seemed to loom on every corner, and Zane and Lewis knew (all too well, actually) that if they were caught they'd become living science experiments.

Zane knew he wasn't the only one that was awakened in the middle of the night by dreams filled with scientists and sharp scalpels and intimidating science equipment wherever he looked.

Zane and Lewis found themselves swimming in what they had deemed as a safe spot, which was where the sea turtles swam and was therefore off limits to all fishermen. With no risk of being spotted, Zane and Lewis were allowed to swim, freely.

But it wasn't long before that changed.

Zane frowned as he glanced towards the surface, and he tapped Lewis on the shoulder, pointing above them. Lewis followed his gaze, and he quickly saw what was bothering the other merman.

A boat hovered above them with a blue net trailing behind it, but that was impossible; not only was this place off limits to fishermen, but there were no grids in the net. All nets were required to have grids, so that if a sea turtle got caught in one, it would be guided to an opening and would soon find freedom from the suffocating prison that was the net. But this net didn't have any grids, and the boat was fishing where tons of sea turtles lived.

But that wasn't even what bothered Lewis the most. What was most frightening about this predicament was the sea turtle already caught in the net, struggling to swim to freedom. Lewis could only imagine how that poor sea turtle must've felt, tangled in the blue material, feeling panic tighten around it as the net seemed to grow smaller and smaller until it was effectively trapped.

Lewis could only imagine what it felt like to be trapped like that, but he didn't want to imagine it because for mermen, being trapped in a net could quickly become a terrifying reality.

Lewis turned to Zane, and they nodded, the same plan firmly set in their minds as they swam towards the surface, making sure to stay well out of sight.

The two boys pulled and tugged at the net; Zane tried to use his powers to singe the material and weaken it, but he quickly stopped when he realized that using his powers could risk harming the sea turtle. Lewis tried to use his own powers, but he'd never tried to do something so complicated. Untangling a net with his powers when he couldn't even untangle the net with his hands? Not as easy as he'd hoped.

With no other options, Zane motioned for Lewis to stay put before swimming for the surface and peaking above the edge of the boat before pushing himself up and grabbed a knife off of the deck.

Zane tumbled back into the water, ungracefully, and swam towards Lewis, who was still struggling to rip the net. He knew fishing nets were meant to be strong, but he didn't know they were too strong for a human- two humans, actually- to rip the nets.

Zane gestured for Lewis to step… um, swim, I guess… back before sawing through the ropes that made the net and smiling as the sea turtle swam free.

Zane returned the knife to the boat, and the minute he found himself with Lewis in the water once again, the two mermen hurried to swim off while the two fishermen (Lewis was sure he'd seen one of them before, but he didn't have time to think about it) gave sounds of confusion as they lifted the shredded net out of the water.

* * *

"Lewis, look on the bright side: we freed the sea turtle!" Zane exclaimed, quietly.

Zane and Lewis were sitting at a booth in the juice net café, but while Zane had been proud of them for rescuing the sea turtle, Lewis couldn't bring himself to celebrate the rescue because something was nagging at him. Something in the back of his brain, like he'd tied a string around his finger and forgotten what he'd been trying to remember.

"I know, and that's great, but… something's bothering me. Before we swam away, I saw one of the fishermen, and… he looked so familiar, but I can't remember where I've seen him before," Lewis muttered.

"It's probably nothing," Zane reassured him.

"Hey, guys," Ash said as he sat beside them.

"That's why he looked so familiar," Lewis suddenly said in an aha! moment. "He looked like Ash."

Zane frowned as he thought back on the brief glance he'd gotten of one of the fishermen when he'd retrieved the knife to free the sea turtle.

"You're right," Zane agreed. "He did look like Ash."

"Who looked like me?" Ash asked.

Zane and Lewis quickly rattled off the story about rescuing the trapped sea turtle and the teenage boy they'd seen on the ship. A boy that looked almost exactly like Ash.

Ash shrugged. "Well, it could've been my cousin. He looks a lot like me, and he's helping my dad on his fishing boat."

Zane and Lewis exchanged glances, neither wanting get to suggest the theory stirring in all of their minds.

"I know what you guys are thinking," Ash stated. "My cousin can be a jerk sometimes, but my dad would never break the rules like that, especially when it puts a sea turtle at risk."

"Ash, are you absolutely sure?" Lewis questioned. "Because the boat we saw looked a lot like your dad's."

"Guys, that's ridiculous!" Ash told them, but his defensive tone was weak.

Was it so ridiculous? Ash's cousin could be downright mean and would do anything to get what he wanted, even if other people got hurt in the process, but the question was… would Ash's cousin be able to rope Ash's dad into something like this?

Ash's dad had made plenty of mistakes in the past, some of which Ash didn't even want to remember, and he'd only known Lewis and Zane for a week.

Who did he trust more: his dad or his new friends?

Ash had no idea what the answer to that question was, and that scared him more than anything else.

"Hey, guys," Emma said as Cleo and her appeared beside their table.

"I have to go," Ash said before shoving his way out of the booth and disappearing out the door.

"What was that about?" Emma questioned.

"Family stuff," Lewis answered, vaguely.

Emma frowned. She considered going after Ash, but she didn't know what she would say or do if she did. Besides, if Lewis and Zane, Ash's best friends, hadn't gone after him, he probably wanted to be alone.

Emma sighed, hoping she wouldn't regret her decision, and sat down with Cleo and the boys.

* * *

"Hey, Ash," his dad said with a smile as his son appeared on the deck of his boat.

"Dad, have you ever caught any sea turtles?" Ash blurted.

Xavier gave a laugh of disbelief. "Of course not. The rules state that no fishermen may fish where the sea turtles breed, and when fishing any where else, we use nets with grids in them, so if a sea turtle is caught, it's guided to an opening."

"Dad, my friends were scuba diving near where the sea turtles are, and they thought they saw your boat out there using a net without grids," Ash explained.

Xavier shook his head. "I wasn't even on my boat today. I was at your brother's baseball game. Your friends must've made a mistake."

Ash nodded. "Yeah… they must have."

But something told Ash that they hadn't made a mistake. His friends wouldn't suggest something like that if they weren't 99% sure of what they'd seen, and that was Ash's father's fishing boat fishing at the sea turtles' breeding ground and using a net without grids.

"Anyway, I have a meeting to get to. Your mother wants you home by five thirty. After that Mako incident, we don't need you disappearing again," Xavier said, giving his son a hug.

Ash chuckled. "I won't, Dad," he assured his father before walking off of the boat.

Ash had almost reached the café when he turned back around, more out of instinct than anything else, and his frown deepened when he saw his father's boat pulling away from the dock.

But… he'd said he was going to a meeting. Had he lied?

Ash felt anger- anger at his dad for lying to him, anger at himself for believing his dad- surge through him as he stomped towards the dock.

He was going to figure out if his dad was lying to him, even if it meant facing his fears of water and whatever he'd become after that trip to Mako Island.

He was a merman, and he was afraid of what he was. But for the first time, Ash could use his merman status to his advantage.

Ash took a deep breath and dove into the water, physically having to stop himself from sharply inhaling as he was submerged.

Ash clenched his eyes shut tight as he felt his body turn to water and bubbles; he was tingling all over, his legs going numb, as the transformation took place. The feeling was both terrifying and oddly pleasant; Ash felt strangely calm as he transformed, and his tight chest loosened as he released some of the panic that had been growing inside of him.

After several moments, Ash slowly opened his eyes and stared at the murky blue waters around him and at his blue tail.

A part of Ash was simply thinking _This is not normal! This is not normal! This is not normal!_

And the other side of him was thinking _this… isn't as bad as I thought._

Ash didn't waste anymore time getting used to the feeling of power that came with being in the water as he shot through the water like a bullet, going at an impressive speed until he'd caught up to the boat.

Ash found the boat fishing at the sea turtles' breeding ground with a net trailing behind it. A net without grids.

Ash felt anger pulse through him as he was forced to come face to face with the awful truth: his father had lied to him.

The horseback rider would've spent hours trying to calm down before speaking with his dad, but before he could swim away, his eyes landed on what was definitely a more pressing issue.

A sea turtle had been caught in the net once again.

Ash struggled to use the unfamiliar muscles of his tail to swim upward, and he began tugging at the net with both hands; luckily, the sea turtle hadn't been too tangled in the net, and Ash released the turtle easily.

But now he had a new problem. He was stuck.

The minute Ash realized that in freeing the sea turtle, he'd gotten himself tangled up in the net, he began to panic. Ash had two extremes: calm, cool, and laid back… and a bundle of anxiety. There was no in between, but now, Ash's increasing panic shattered the scale as a panic attack threatened to seize him as he began to flail, unable to breathe, unable to move, unable to think.

Minutes passed, and Ash was even more tangled up than before.

Images of his life in the very near future pursued him. Images of needles, scalpels, and being strapped to cold metal tables to be dissected and who knows what else.

Ash was stuck. He was an injured animal waiting for a predator to attack him. There was no way out of this situation, nothing he could do to escape the prison of ropes that trapped him.

Ash stopped struggling and with a silent sob, he gave up.

* * *

"Mr. Dove?" Zane called as him and Lewis strolled onto the dock, "Have you seen Ash?"

After the incident at the café, Ash had seemingly vanished into thin air; Zane and Lewis lagged behind long after the girls left, waiting for Ash to return, but he never did. That was when the two mermen began looking for Ash, and the best place to start was with Ash's father.

"No. I just got back from a meeting," Xavier told them. "Last time I saw Ash, we talked on my fishing boat, and after we had our conversation, he left."

"Where is your fishing boat?" Lewis questioned, noticing the vacant spot where Mr. Dove's boat was usually docked.

"Erick must have taken it out," Xavier answered, referring to his nephew, Erick Dove. "You can call Erick, see if Ash is with him."

"Thank you," Zane stated as Xavier headed towards the parking lot to get his car and drive home.

"Zane, you don't think Ash would've…" Lewis trailed off.

"Gone to see if his dad's fishing boat was really the one catching the sea turtles?" Zane finished. "If it were my dad's fishing boat, I would've gone to see."

Lewis nodded. "That's what I was afraid of," he muttered before the two boys leaped into the water, their hands held out in front of them in classic diving formation to use their arms to push through the water instead of uncomfortably splashing into it.

Zane and Lewis raced towards the breeding ground, and they saw (their eyesight was very good underwater, unlike before they were mermen, when their eyes stung painfully as they opened them underwater) something caught in a fishing net not far off. That something had a long blue tail and the pale skin of a human.

Ash Dove.

Zane and Lewis stuttered to a halt beside Ash and began yanking at the net; they were making progress, but Ash was really tangled up.

A metallic groan sounded from above, and the boys were all lurched forward as the net began to get out led up.

Zane and Lewis renewed their efforts more vigorously, clawing and pulling and even biting the net to free their friend; Lewis tried his telekinesis and succeeded in loosening the net, but not enough to free Ash. Zane heated up the neat until the water was boiling and the ropes were turning black with heat. Ash had a few blisters, but he didn't seem too bothered as Zane and Lewis yanked the net one last time.

Ash tumbled forward, doing a somersault through the water, and he was caught by Zane and Lewis as the net disappeared above the surface.

Zane turned to Ash, trying and failing to conceal his worried expression as he gestured to Ash before making an okay sign with his fingers. His expression made the question mark at the end of his gestures clear.

 _Are you okay?_

Ash nodded before the boys swam away in a hurry while Erick and the other fishermen made bewildered and enraged sounds above them.

* * *

"That was terrifying," Zane said, simply, as the boys walked towards Ash's house.

"You can say that again," Lewis muttered.

"If he doesn't, I will," Ash chuckled. "But it was also awesome."

Lewis turned to Ash in surprise. "Awesome? Did you swallow some ocean water?"

"No," Ash laughed. "You want to know why? I can hold my breath for twelve minutes… and that wasn't even trying!"

"That's amazing," Zane exclaimed.

Zane and Lewis exchanged hopeful glances, praying that Ash would finally start to accept his mermen status. Being a mermen was odd and complicated and wasn't easy… at all… but it could be fun once you accepted it.

"Maybe this mermen thing isn't so bad," Ash admitted, seeing their expressions, as he stopped in front of his front door.

Zane and Lewis had silent celebrations as Ash placed his key in the door.

"I said maybe!" he called over his shoulder before shutting the door behind him.

"Ash," his father said, appearing in front of him. "You were right. Erick was the one trapping the sea turtles, and he's been fired from my fishing boat and is grounded by his parents until he's forty. I should've believed you."

Ash shrugged. "It's fine, Dad."

"No, it isn't," his father replied. "I'm sorry, Ash."

Ash laughed and hugged his dad to display his forgiveness (forgiveness for his dad, not Erick. Erick had nearly gotten him sent to an aquarium or a lab. That would take a lot longer to forgive) before the two of them headed into the kitchen.

"What I can't seem to figure out is what creature he caught in that net," his dad wondered. "It was singed. Fire can't burn under water, and the temperature of the water would've had to be boiling in order to do that kind of damage. The net was ripped in various places. I thought it was a shark, but… I still don't understand how the net could've gotten burned."

Ash tried to keep his expression blank as he grabbed a soda can from the fridge.

"Ash! Where'd you get those?" Xavier questioned, grabbing Ash's hand and staring at the painful looking blisters all over his son's arms.

"Oh, uh… knocked over some boiling water in science class," Ash lied. "It isn't as painful as it looks, I promise," he assured his dad before disappearing into his room.

Xavier frowned before shrugging it off; Ash was a teenager. They were clumsy. He didn't see any reason to believe Ash was lying.

Little did Ash and Xavier know, Ash's strange behavior wouldn't always be so easy to shrug off.

* * *

 _I am not trying to make Ash seem like a coward, but his fearful behavior in the beginning will start to contribute to his character development._

 _Also, I wanted to get this chapter posted as soon as possible, so I barely edited it. Usually, my editing is better, but I have a lot of writing to do, and if I spend too much time on editing, I'll never get anything done. Therefore, please ignore any mistakes._

 _Thank you for reading! Goodbye, everyone!_


End file.
